Loaded Productions. Bakehouse Theatre. 10 Jul 2016
Good musical theatre should be about fun in very large part. That’s why it has songs and wit.
Sean Weatherly’s Price Check! The Musical is fun, unpretentiously so.
Supermarket comic sketches and characters are aplenty in the Australian lexicon. Weatherly doesn’t labour the point by seeking to emulate what’s been done before, or straining it to match Broadway.
Instead, we’re offered a delightful couple of days in the life style musical, of a funny little supermarket, its staff and a crazy regular.
It’s not so much the political goings on - as David (Sean Weatherly) and Zayeeb (Fahad Farooque) battle to convince the boss Mr Butler (Rory Walker) to promote them to Fruit and Veg Manager, or the lovelorn flirting of check out chick Narelle, (Catherine Campbell) let alone the fussing old Mrs Zimmerman (Jacqy Phillips) - that makes the show buzz. It’s the songs expressing their lives and battles that hold much of the magic and humour, as much as the characterisations.
Listen carefully beyond the obvious humour that comes with a song called I’m Just Nuts about Fruit, and you will catch comic allusions related to Australian music culture and start to really love this production.
Each performer is having a ball, thoroughly caught up in comedy of the character. Rory Walker’s Mr Butler fits him like a cosy sweater; Butler is a perpetually cranky middle aged career supermarket cartoon, but with real heart. Jacqy Phillips is adorable as the resident bargain hunting aged fussbudget. Catherine Campbell’s Narelle is sweetly droll, while Sean Weatherly and Fahad Farooque are perfect foils to each other, Farooque the one to steal the show.
Supported by a very on point chorus ensemble in Celeste Barone, Selena Britz, Barbara Nutchey and Ali Walsh, Price Check! The Musical had all the bounce needed for a fun twilight Sunday afternoon out.
David O’Brien
When: 6 to 16 July
Where: The Bakehouse Theatre
Bookings: bakehousetheatre.com
